Aire Camping-Cars du Potager

03 · The write-up

What it is like to arrive here.

“Aire municipale. Stationnement autorisé et gratuit.” That is Drôme Tourisme’s own description, and it answers the three questions that matter: the commune of Rochegude runs this, parking is permitted, and it costs nothing.

Ten places, open all year, on the Avenue du Comtat Venaissin beside the D117. The listing names the Mairie de Rochegude as the contact.

What is actually here

A drain and a fresh water fill, an electric vehicle charge point, public toilets, shaded ground and a coach parking area, according to the tourist board. It also notes the aire is near shops and a leisure area.

There are toilets and a waste disposal point. No showers, and no 16 amp hook-up for a motorhome: the electric point the listing describes is a car charger, which is a different thing, so plan to run on your own power. Drôme Tourisme does list a fresh water fill, so a top-up should be possible.

Ten places is generous for a free French aire. It is not so generous that it cannot fill in August.

Where it sits

Rochegude is in the far south of the Drôme, in the Drôme provençale, close to the Vaucluse border and the wine country around the Rhône valley floor. This is the warm, low end of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, a long way in every sense from the alpine half of the region.

Practically, that makes it a different kind of stopover from anything in the Alps or the Auvergne. Access is easy, the roads are flat, the D117 is a normal departmental road, and altitude is not a factor in whether you can get there. What is a factor in summer is heat and shade, and the listing does mention shaded ground.

Altitude and season

Open all year, per the listing. Down here that is a claim you can mostly rely on, because the aire is not at altitude and the roads to it do not close.

The one caveat is in the tourist board’s own words: the service area may be closed in winter depending on the weather. Even in the Drôme provençale the mistral and a hard frost can take a borne out of service, so a winter stop should assume the parking works and the water might not. That is a much smaller risk than at 1,400 m in the Savoie, but it is not zero.

The rule that applies

The commune of Rochegude sets the terms for its own aire, including any overnight limit, which the listing does not publish. Our French bivouac rules page covers the national legal position on sleeping in a vehicle, and what an aire actually is explains the category. The posted sign at the entrance beats both of them and beats us.

Before you rely on this

Open the Drôme Tourisme listing linked below. It was last updated well before this year, so call the mairie if the service point matters to your plan.